First Glance
by WeasleySeeker
Summary: It's James's Auror graduation, and Roxanne is thrilled that she finally has the chance to utilise her matchmaking skills on him and this mystery girl of his.


**A/N: Hi everyone! I had a little bit of free time over the week (shock horror) so I decided to spend some of it finishing off this little one-shot, which has been sitting around half-done for a few weeks.**

**I've been wanting to write something based on this quote from Doctor Who for a while now, and I recently realised that I've hardly written anything about the next gen other than Rose, Scorpius and Lily, so I thought I'd experiment with these characters ****a little. I actually really enjoyed writing them, so I may come back and write more about them at some point. Hope you enjoy it! :)**

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_"You know when sometimes you meet someone so beautiful - and then you actually talk to them and five minutes later they're as dull as a brick? But then there's other people. And you meet them and you think, "Not bad, they're okay," and when you get to know them ... their face just, sort of, becomes them, like their personality's written all over it, and they just - they turn into something so beautiful."__—Amy Pond (Doctor Who 6.10)_

oOo

Roxanne is getting impatient. A glare from Fred alerts her to the fact that she's tapping her foot - she stops abruptly. She knows that it's an annoying habit of hers, but she hadn't anticipated that this ceremony would be so _boring_. Instead, she looks at the row of Weasley-Potters around her. It's not the entire extended family, but there are definitely enough of them to show their support for James's Auror graduation, despite those that couldn't get the time off work: Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny and their other two children, Grandma and Grandad Weasley, Uncle Ron, Teddy (who practically counts as a Potter anyway), and Fred and herself of course.

"I'd just like to congratulate all of our new recruits once more," Shacklebolt continues, his magically amplified voice booming around the room. "We live in altogether much happier times than we did twenty or so years ago, but the Auror department is still far from unneeded. The bravery of these young adults is admirable, and..."

She yawns widely at this point, and receives a reproving look from her grandmother. The ceremony is so nearly over, and she isn't here to listen to Kingsley's congratulations of her cousin and his former classmates. She's come here with a purpose. During her time at Hogwarts, Roxanne was the proud bearer of the title of Gryffindor Matchmaker; she hasn't had much of a chance to flaunt her skills since then, and now seems like the perfect opportunity.

James has said countless times that this Chloe is a friend and nothing more, but Roxanne knows better. James is her closest cousin, and she was always the one he confessed his crushes to back at school. She knows that look in his eyes and that little smile he does when he talks about Chloe - he's head over heels for her, whether he wants to admit it or not.

Casting her eyes along the line of certificate-bearing Auror graduates, Roxanne tries to guess once more which one Chloe is. There's nobody that jumps out at her - of the few girls in the group, there are several pretty ones, but none that she would immediately identify as James's type. _Just a few more minutes,_she tells herself, _and you'll know for sure._

Finally, it seems as though Shacklebolt's unusually lengthy speech is over, and Roxanne jumps up enthusiastically. "I just can't _wait_ for this," she declares, rolling up her sleeves and rubbing her hands together excitedly.

Fred rolls his eyes at her. "You're obsessed," he tells her, not for the first time. Despite the fact that Roxanne hadn't seen her twin brother for weeks before today, Chloe is pretty much all she's talked about.

"Not as obsessed as James is," Roxanne smirks. "Look, here he comes!" She begins to stride towards her cousin, but Fred stops her.

"Roxie!" he protests, grabbing her wrist and dragging her back. "Let him have his moment before you start interrogating him."

"When did _you_ get so boring?" she mutters, but she keeps her distance for a bit while James is enveloped in bone-crushing hugs by his mother and grandmother, looking slightly embarrassed but pleased with himself. Roxanne actually feels a little jealous of him for a fleeting moment. Much as she loves working in her dad's shop, she kind of wishes she'd done something like graduating from Auror school - something for her family to be really proud of.

However, the negative thoughts leave her head as James comes bounding towards them, beaming. "Hey guys, thanks for coming!" he says, hugging them both warmly.

"It's not like we had anything better to do," Roxanne says nonchalantly, sticking her tongue out at him, and they both laugh. It's times like this when she really misses Hogwarts. "Congrats, and all that."

"You know the real reason Roxie came?" Fred asks, a mischievous glint in his eye. "To meet this Chloe. It's basically all she's spoken to me about all day."

James rolls his eyes at Roxanne. "We've been through this: she's not my girlfriend."

"_Yet_," Roxanne adds with a wink, and James sighs melodramatically.

"Well, I suppose you can meet her if you want," he says, craning his neck to try and find her amongst all the people that were milling around in the hall. "Ah, there she is." He points, and Roxanne can't quite tell which person he's pointing at, but she feels like obviously standing on tiptoe to look over the crowd of people would look a little strange.

"Aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Well, she's probably talking to her family..." James begins hesitantly.

"No, look - she's going over to the drinks table," Fred points out, having seen which of the girls James was pointing to.

"What are you waiting for, then?" Roxanne demands, pushing James in front of her. "Lead the way."

James makes a face, but complies. "I hope you don't traumatise her too much, Roxie. Hey! Chlo!" he calls, just as they approach the table.

Roxanne has to try very hard to stop herself from gaping at the girl who turns around and grins at James. Average height, average weight, shoulder-length brown hair - she just looks so... _normal_. Not exactly unattractive, but so different from the supermodel types that James usually goes for.

"Hey!" Chloe calls back, beaming, and they hug (in a very _familiar_ way, Roxanne notes). "Congratulations! It feels so weird to be done, doesn't it?"

"I know," James agrees. "But I guess things won't really be that different now that we've qualified - we'll just be doing the same things except without supervision, really."

Roxanne clears her throat loudly; it seems like this conversation could go on for a while. James glares at her before turning back to Chloe.

"Oh, sorry - these are my cousins, Fred and Roxie."

"Hi," Roxanne says, smiling sweetly at Chloe and elbowing her way past Fred so that she can begin her work. "James has told me _all_ about you."

"Has he?" Chloe asks surprisedly as a subtle blush starts to creep across James's cheeks.

"Of course he has! You were at Beauxbatons, right?" Roxanne says, even though she knows for certain that she's correct.

"Ah, that would be why I didn't recognise you," Fred says, the confusion clearing from his face. Hogwarts isn't the biggest of schools, so most people who were there at least know each other by sight.

"Yeah - I like it much better here, but my mum's French, so she wanted me to study there," Chloe explains.

"So you speak fluent French? Well, obviously," Fred answers himself stupidly.

"I've always wished I could speak French. It's such a _romantic_ language," Roxanne says deliberately, shooting a sideways glance at James.

"Anyway, we won't keep you," James tells Chloe hurriedly, glaring at Roxanne. "I'm sure you'll want to celebrate with your family."

"Yeah, I should probably get back to them, actually. We've got a table booked in half an hour, we should get going."

James nods enthusiastically. "Well then, I'll see you soon. You working on Monday?"

"Yeah - I'll see you then!" Chloe calls, just as what Roxanne assumes is her mother starts beckoning from behind them. "Bye!"

As Chloe moves further away from them, James shakes his head at Roxanne, but he's clearly amused. "You're incorrigible," he tells her, rolling his eyes. Roxanne just smiles sweetly at him before he's recaptured by Grandma Weasley.

"Well, she's different from what I expected," Fred says in a low voice.

Roxanne nods her agreement, lost in thought. There's seemingly nothing that makes Chloe stand out from the crowd, but it's clear that she means a lot to James. It's really quite special, how there are things about people that you have no idea of at first glance.


End file.
